Chronicling the milestones to our most audacious goals

December 16, 2014

Training Tuesdays: Mountain Athletics Week 2

If you are looking for a prescriptive training program with all thinking removed, look no further. I have completed 2 weeks of the Mountain Athletics Alpine Climbing training program and am already feeling stronger. The idea of the program has become clear to me now, it is very repetitive and very demanding but I can see the method to the madness and how it is building me up for applicable real work strength and endurance. The long drawn out weighted step ups are what kill me right now, but for anyone who has been in the mountains knows, going unprepared is unacceptable. With no mountains anywhere in sight – for daily workouts the is the next best thing.

The great thing about this program is that it still allows me to get out climbing as much as possible. Only two days a week are super hard so it’s easy to add in bouldering or ropes to supplement climbing power and strength, which this program doesn’t focus on at all. We went out to beautiful Peggy’s Cove, NS to train power in December as we are still waiting on ice like a kid waits for Christmas morning.

Below you will find what was involved in the first two weeks of this program. For those that aren’t interested in the nitty gritty daily report here is a quick summary. Two days a week Sandbag getups & Weighted stepups, Two days a week Bouldering & core or Jumping lunges. For those that are read between the lines.

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Day 3: Today was called a “Recovery Run” at 2 miles. I bumped it up to 5KM because “Hey why not, I was feelin’ it”. Not much to report other than it’s cold outside and I need to layer better next time around.

Day 4: this is escalating quickly. Today I am sweating and breathing hard.
35 x sandbag getups @ 35lbs
550 weighted stepups @45lb pack
I also added three rounds of skipping
Time 38:22

Day 8: Hard day today. Sweating more and more on these step up days. With the way things are escallating I’m feeling like this is going to be crazy hard by the end of this program!
40 x sandbag getups @35lbs
600 weighted stepups @45lbs

Day 9: Easy ass day. I added a bunch more reps on both accounts just so that I could break a sweat.
2 rounds
3x Continuous bouldering intervals @ 30 seconds
3x Iron mikes x 6

Day 10: Recovery Run. These recovery days are great – I have time to fit in regular climbing days.
2 mile run
2 hours of hard bouldering

Really excited that I am sticking to this plan so far and am 100% on track as recommended. Unfortunately the weather keeps fluctuating and as of this post all the local ice has melted. This time last year we were out on our first day on crampons. Soon we’ll be doing recon- just more reason to train hard!
What program are you undergoing? Where have you seen the most improvements? How do you make your program work with kids / dogs / work / family to attend to? We love your feedback!